DOCSLIB.ORG

Five Tests for the Integrated Review

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Five Tests for the Integrated Review Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies Occasional Paper Five Tests for the Integrated Review Will Jessett, Tom McKane and Peter Watkins Five Tests for the Integrated Review Will Jessett, Tom McKane and Peter Watkins RUSI Occasional Paper, December 2020 Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies ii Five Tests for the Integrated Review 189 years of independent thinking on defence and security The Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) is the world’s oldest and the UK’s leading defence and security think tank. Its mission is to inform, influence and enhance public debate on a safer and more stable world. RUSI is a research-led institute, producing independent, practical and innovative analysis to address today’s complex challenges. Since its foundation in 1831, RUSI has relied on its members to support its activities. Together with revenue from research, publications and conferences, RUSI has sustained its political independence for 189 years. The views expressed in this publication are those of the author, and do not reflect the views of RUSI or any other institution to which the authors are or were affiliated. Published in 2020 by the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution – Non-Commercial – No-Derivatives 4.0 International Licence. For more information, see <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/>. RUSI Occasional Paper, December 2020. ISSN 2397-0286 (Online). Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies Whitehall London SW1A 2ET United Kingdom +44 (0)20 7747 2600 www.rusi.org RUSI is a registered charity (No. 210639) Contents Acknowledgements v Executive Summary vii Introduction 1 A Basis for Comparison 2 Test 1: How Good Were the Threat and Risk Assessments and Policy Baselines in Previous Reviews? 5 Assessment 7 Test 2: How Good Were the Defence Planning Responses? 9 Operational Concepts 9 ‘Jointery’ 10 International Coordination and Cooperation 11 The Comprehensive Approach 13 Defence Industrial Policy, Science, Technology and Innovation 14 Assessment 15 Test 3: Did the Reviews Make the Right Decisions on Capabilities and Force Structures? 17 Assessment 20 Test 4: Were Sufficient Efforts Made in Previous Reviews to Achieve an Enduring Balance Between Policy, Commitments, the Forward Programme and the Defence Budget? 23 Real Terms Changes in the Defence Budget 23 Funding of the Nuclear Deterrent 25 Financial Settlements in the Major Reviews 26 Assessment 28 Test 5: Did the Changes Made to the Management of Defence in Previous Reviews Produce the Desired Effect of Greater Efficiency and Effectiveness? 31 Assessment 34 Context and Prospects 37 About the Authors 39 Acknowledgements In March 2020, RUSI published a report in which one of the authors (Will Jessett) and Malcolm Chalmers set out a range of defence policy and planning issues the Integrated Review would need to consider. Work on the review has continued during the summer and autumn, and the government has signalled that a white paper setting out the results of the review will be published early next year. This paper proposes an analytical framework comprising five ‘tests’ against which the Integrated Review could be assessed by comparison with the most significant defence and security reviews since 1990. It focuses on the defence aspects of the Integrated Review, the major element by cost and value and the area of the authors’ expertise – the three of us worked directly on many of the major and minor reviews since the end of the Cold War. We have tried to make our reflections as objective as possible. In preparing and revising this paper, the authors have been fortunate to receive insightful comments from a group of former fellow policy professionals and from academics, and we are very grateful for their assistance. The resulting judgements, however, are entirely our own. We would also like to express our thanks to RUSI’s publications and communications teams for their help with completing and publishing this paper at the end of a challenging year. Executive Summary HE INTEGRATED REVIEW has been billed as the deepest and most radical review of UK foreign, defence, security and development policy since the end of the Cold War. How can Tsuch a claim be assessed? This paper focuses on the defence aspects of the review, and proposes five ‘tests’ to compare it with the most significant defence and security reviews since 1990. The first test is: how accurate were the assessments in previous reviews about changing threats and risks to the UK and international security and stability, and the quality of the headline policy responses? The reviews during this period made by and large the right calls about the trajectory of risks and threats and set baseline policies that were appropriate to those risks. But overall, the reviews were too reactive to events and, as a consequence, placed too much emphasis on threats (such as international terrorism) emanating from fragile and failing states, while not foreseeing the extent and pace of the resurgent threat from Russia or the wider national security threat posed by China. They also did not provide a strong enough policy response to some of the biggest risks, particularly pandemics and climate change. The Integrated Review is taking place in an international environment that appears more complex and dangerous than at any time in the past 30 years. There is an urgent need for a clear and precise assessment of the changing strategic context and a bold, substantive headline policy response to these issues in the Integrated Review of the sort the government has been trailing. The clarity and credibility of the risk assessment and the depth, quality and plausibility of the response will be a crucial first test of whether the review is likely to live up to its billing. This will be the most difficult of the five tests to apply to the review as it is published but could remain a yardstick for subsequent comparison. The second test is: how successful were the defence planning responses in previous reviews and which have had the greatest impact on activities, posture and capability/force structure planning? Three main themes percolate through the post-Cold War years. First, a journey towards greater ‘jointery’ between the three services, which produced better integrated and more operationally effective armed forces. The growing salience of the cyber and space domains has the potential to take this integration further and improve how the armed forces operate across all domains of warfare. Second, a recognition, strongest in the 1998 and 2015 reviews, that the UK’s national security and the effectiveness (and affordability) of the UK’s armed forces depend on high levels of international coordination and cooperation, with the 2015 review seeking to make defence more ‘international by design’. Third, a growing emphasis on better coordination between defence and the other ‘levers’ of national power, a focus of the first two Strategic Defence and Security Reviews in 2010 and 2015. After the latter, in 2018, new life was breathed into the ‘comprehensive approach’ by the ‘Fusion Doctrine’. And, throughout, the Ministry of Defence viii Five Tests for the Integrated Review (MoD) has sustained a focus on innovation and technology-led modernisation to improve the cost-effectiveness of the UK armed forces. Previous reviews made variable, but significant, progress with these planning responses, with net positive results. The test for the Integrated Review will be whether the combination of approaches that it prescribes is coherent and realistic; and will drive resource allocation, operational prioritisation and fresh moves towards stronger national integration and greater international cooperation to match the growing risks to the UK’s national security. The third test is: were the changes to capabilities and force structures in each of the reviews the right ones? Although the size of the UK armed forces has reduced significantly over the past 30 years, their shape has changed little. The changes instituted by the main reviews have mainly been quite cautious and incremental, reflecting pressures to maintain a broad spectrum of capabilities, including as hedges against uncertainty. These decisions were strongly influenced by the experiences of the conflicts and operations in which the armed forces were involved during the period, and thus as much reactive as proactive. ‘Latency’ – the gap between drawing up force structure plans and the capabilities entering into service, often decades later – has been a major issue. The debate about what constitutes reasonable overall ‘mass’ for the armed forces of a medium-sized military power like the UK has remained contentious. Although today’s military platforms are individually many times more capable, in terms of combat power, than those available in 1990, this has come at the expense of mass. Given the pace of technological change, the changes to force structure and capabilities made in previous reviews did not go far enough, fast enough. A force structure and posture ‘pivot’ of the sort which has been recently trailed by the MoD would require bold and controversial decisions on the balance between investing in ‘sunrise’ and dis-investing in ‘sunset’ capabilities, including further reducing regular manpower numbers. The government is signalling clearly that it will be prepared to make these hard choices. A successful outcome would also require making better use of reserve forces, the civilian defence workforce and defence industry and other suppliers of defence services – turning the ‘whole force by design’ slogan into practical plans. The fourth test is: were sufficient efforts made to achieve an enduring balance between policy, commitments, the forward programme and the defence budget? None of the major post-Cold War reviews properly got to grips with finances. Going into the Integrated Review there was a significant gap between the cost of the defence programme and the budget, particularly over the next two to three years.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Future Defence Review Working Paper Number 1 Royal United Services Institute July 2009
    FUTURE DEFENCE REVIEW Working Paper Number 1 Royal United Services Institute July 2009 Preparing for the Lean Years Malcolm Chalmers Issue Future Defence Review Working Papers How will British defence spending fare in an age of austerity? This series provides Context independent analysis and opinion on issues that The core defence budgets for 2009/10 and 2010/11 have already been are likely to feature in a set, and are unlikely to be substantially altered. But, in the immediate Future Defence Review. aftermath of the next election, most analysts now expect there to be a new comprehensive spending review, leading to a prolonged period of It seeks to promote public austerity, including in defence. a vigorous and comprehensive debate, unconstrained by any Key Findings preconceptions of Britain’s role in the ¾ If the MoD’s current and capital budgets are reduced in line world or the purposes with those for the whole government (excluding interest of its armed forces, payments and social security), total defence spending would amongst political fall by an estimated 6.8% in real terms between 2010/11 parties, the academic and 2013/14. The estimated reduction over the six years to community, industry 2016/17 would be 11% in real terms. and the electorate as a whole. ¾ If the MoD succeeds in obtaining an exemption from the full impact of planned capital cuts, it could face pressure from another source. Assuming, for example, that health and education are given special treatment and their budgets are frozen at 2010 levels in real terms, and that the rate of growth Related analysis: in social security spending is reduced to 1% per year, this would www.rusi.org/fdr leave the rest of government, including the MoD, facing a cut of 14% in their budgets over the period from 2010 to 2016.
    [Show full text]
  • OSP11: Nuclear Weapons Policy 1967-1998
    OPERATIONAL SELECTION POLICY OSP11 NUCLEAR WEAPONS POLICY 1967-1998 Revised November 2005 1 Authority 1.1 The National Archives' Acquisition Policy announced the Archive's intention of developing Operational Selection Policies across government. These would apply the collection themes described in the overall policy to the records of individual departments and agencies. 1.2 Operational Selection Policies are intended to be working tools for those involved in the selection of public records. This policy may therefore be reviewed and revised in the light of comments from users of the records or from archive professionals, the experience of departments in using the policy, or as a result of newly discovered information. There is no formal cycle of review, but comments would be welcomed at any time. The extent of any review or revision exercise will be determined according to the nature of the comments received. If you have any comments upon this policy, please e-mail records- [email protected] or write to: Acquisition and Disposition Policy Manager Records Management Department The National Archives Kew Richmond Surrey TW9 4DU 1.3 Operational Selection Policies do not provide guidance on access to selected records. 2 Scope 2.1 This policy relates to all public records on British nuclear weapons policy and development. The departments and agencies concerned are the Prime Minister’s Office, the Cabinet Office, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Security Policy Department, Defence Department, Atomic Energy and Disarmament Department, and Arms Control and Disarmament Department), HM Treasury (Defence and Material Department), the Department of Trade and Industry (Atomic Energy, and Export Control and Non-Proliferation Directorate), the Ministry of Defence (MOD), the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) and the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA).
    [Show full text]
  • Defence and Security After Brexit Understanding the Possible Implications of the UK’S Decision to Leave the EU Compendium Report
    Defence and security after Brexit Understanding the possible implications of the UK’s decision to leave the EU Compendium report James Black, Alex Hall, Kate Cox, Marta Kepe, Erik Silfversten For more information on this publication, visit www.rand.org/t/RR1786 Published by the RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, Calif., and Cambridge, UK © Copyright 2017 RAND Corporation R® is a registered trademark. Cover: HMS Vanguard (MoD/Crown copyright 2014); Royal Air Force Eurofighter Typhoon FGR4, A Chinook Helicopter of 18 Squadron, HMS Defender (MoD/Crown copyright 2016); Cyber Security at MoD (Crown copyright); Brexit (donfiore/fotolia); Heavily armed Police in London (davidf/iStock) RAND Europe is a not-for-profit organisation whose mission is to help improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. RAND’s publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors. Limited Print and Electronic Distribution Rights This document and trademark(s) contained herein are protected by law. This representation of RAND intellectual property is provided for noncommercial use only. Unauthorized posting of this publication online is prohibited. Permission is given to duplicate this document for personal use only, as long as it is unaltered and complete. Permission is required from RAND to reproduce, or reuse in another form, any of its research documents for commercial use. For information on reprint and linking permissions, please visit www.rand.org/pubs/permissions. Support RAND Make a tax-deductible charitable contribution at www.rand.org/giving/contribute www.rand.org www.rand.org/randeurope Defence and security after Brexit Preface This RAND study examines the potential defence and security implications of the United Kingdom’s (UK) decision to leave the European Union (‘Brexit’).
    [Show full text]
  • Towards a Tier One Royal Air Force
    TOWARDS A TIER ONE ROYAL AIR FORCE MARK GUNZINGER JACOB COHN LUKAS AUTENRIED RYAN BOONE TOWARDS A TIER ONE ROYAL AIR FORCE MARK GUNZINGER JACOB COHN LUKAS AUTENRIED RYAN BOONE 2019 ABOUT THE CENTER FOR STRATEGIC AND BUDGETARY ASSESSMENTS (CSBA) The Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments is an independent, nonpartisan policy research institute established to promote innovative thinking and debate about national security strategy and investment options. CSBA’s analysis focuses on key questions related to existing and emerging threats to U.S. national security, and its goal is to enable policymakers to make informed decisions on matters of strategy, security policy, and resource allocation. ©2019 Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. All rights reserved. ABOUT THE AUTHORS Mark Gunzinger is a Senior Fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. Mr. Gunzinger has served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Forces, Transformation and Resources. A retired Air Force Colonel and Command Pilot, he joined the Office of the Secretary of Defense in 2004 and was appointed to the Senior Executive Service and served as Principal Director of the Department’s central staff for the 2005–2006 Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR). He served as Director for Defense Transformation, Force Planning and Resources on the National Security Council staff. Mr. Gunzinger holds an M.S. in National Security Strategy from the National War College, a Master of Airpower Art and Science degree from the School of Advanced Air and Space Studies, an M.P.A. from Central Michigan University, and a B.S. in Chemistry from the United States Air Force Academy.
    [Show full text]
  • International Affairs and the British Defence and Security Policy Debate: the Bibliometric Context
    International Affairs and the British defence and security policy debate: the bibliometric context ANDREW M. DORMAN AND MATTHEW R. H. UTTLEY Introduction With the notion of learning from the past in mind, this virtual issue contains 16 articles drawn from the International Affairs archive that provide insights into key aspects of British defence and security policy. This introductory article serves two purposes. First, it draws on the results of a quantitative bibliometric study to describe and assess the contribution that International Affairs has made to the postwar UK defence and security debate. In doing so, it demonstrates how the journal has been, and continues to be, the primary locus of scholarly academic debates and a hub for the dissemination of policy-relevant research on national defence and security issues. Second, it draws on the bibliometric study to explain the criteria for the selection of the subsequent articles, placing them within the context of the following five enduring debates: 1. Defence strategy and policy 2. Defence reviews 3. Civil–military–societal relations 4. Nuclear debate 5. The impact of outside ‘events’—Scottish independence referendum and Brexit The salience of International Affairs in the British defence and security debate Perhaps not surprisingly, during the first three decades afterInternational Affairs was founded in 1922 the editors placed their emphasis on publishing articles on international politics. However, during the early 1950s attention turned to British defence policy issues and, in the years that followed, the engagement of Interna- tional Affairs with this area of study has grown exponentially. A consequence is that the articles included in this virtual edition represent a fraction of the much larger body of scholarly contributions to British defence and security policy analysis and debate in the journal since the first decade after the Second World War.
    [Show full text]
  • For Review Only
    ORE Open Research Exeter TITLE A very British national security state: Formal and informal institutions in the design of UK security policy AUTHORS Thomson, C; Blagden, D JOURNAL British Journal of Politics and International Relations DEPOSITED IN ORE 30 May 2018 This version available at http://hdl.handle.net/10871/33014 COPYRIGHT AND REUSE Open Research Exeter makes this work available in accordance with publisher policies. A NOTE ON VERSIONS The version presented here may differ from the published version. If citing, you are advised to consult the published version for pagination, volume/issue and date of publication The British Journal of Politics and International Relations A Very British National Security State: Formal and Informal Institutions in the Design of UK Security Policy Journal: The British Journal of Politics and International Relations ManuscriptFor ID BJPIR-1374.R2 Review Only Manuscript Type: Original Article Institutions, security policy, audience costs, national security council, Keywords: strategic defence and security review, security elites Page 1 of 32 The British Journal of Politics and International Relations 1 2 1 3 Table 1: The Pre- and Post-2010 Evolution of UK Security Policy Machinery and Processes 4 Pre-2010 Post-2010 5 Cabinet-level security policy National Security Committee2 National Security Council3 6 formulation/coordination body 7 Detailed statement of Defence White Paper4 Strategic Defence and Security 8 defence/security posture and Review5 9 associated force structure 10 Top-level public statement
    [Show full text]
  • Integrated Review 2021: Increasing the Cap on the Nuclear Stockpile
    BRIEFING PAPER Number 9175, 19 March 2021 Integrated Review 2021: Increasing the cap on the By Claire Mills UK's nuclear stockpile The UK has, in the past, been lauded as one of the most transparent nuclear weapon states and the country that has taken the greatest strides towards disarmament since the end of the Cold War.1 Although figures vary between analysts,2 at its height the UK’s nuclear stockpile was approximately 520 warheads. The current stockpile is estimated at 195 warheads.3 This makes the UK the smallest of the NPT-recognised nuclear weapon states (also known as the P5).4 The UK is also the only nuclear weapon state to have reduced to a single system: the submarine-launched Trident missile system. The Government’s Integrated Review on Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy, published on 16 March 2021, announced some significant changes to the UK’s nuclear posture, however, including a 40 per cent increase on the size of the UK’s nuclear warhead stockpile. Box 1: The UK’s track record on disarmament since the end of the Cold War • At its Cold War peak the UK nuclear stockpile consisted of approximately 520 nuclear warheads. • Following the end of the Cold War a review of the UK’s nuclear posture resulted in the RAF’s WE-177 free-fall bombs being phased out, and the capability of the Royal Navy’s surface ships to carry or deploy nuclear weapons being dismantled. By 1998 the deterrent had been reduced to one single system: Trident. The total stockpile was reduced by approximately 20 per cent and the number of operationally available warheads fell from around 400 during the 1980s to an estimated 300.
    [Show full text]
  • The UK Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015
    Complex security and strategic latency: the UK Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015 PAUL CORNISH AND ANDREW M. DORMAN* In its first Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) in 2010, the British government committed its successors to undertake such a review every five years.1 Whichever party (or parties) form the government, the next SDSR is expected to begin soon after the May 2015 general election. In the meantime the machinery of government has once again entered the ‘phoney war’ stage of the defence cycle: preliminary work and positioning has begun prior to the formal start of the review process.2 This is an uncomfortable time for the UK’s principal political parties. The current government’s defence and security policy includes the questionable assump- tion that equipment spending can grow within a defence budget that seems set to shrink and against a pledge that the regular army will suffer no further cuts.3 Yet these contradictions are as nothing when compared to those experienced within the Labour Party. Labour’s defence team has indicated that it has no wish to be constrained by the current defence and security review timetable, which it believes would produce only a rushed outcome. Instead, a Labour government would hold a strategy review once the 2016 Comprehensive Spending Review has been completed. In other words, Labour would conduct a review, which it would describe as ‘strategic’, only after the defence budget for 2016–19 had been fixed.4 Further complicating this picture is the prospect of another coalition govern- ment. In their joint debate on Trident, Britain’s force of four nuclear ballistic missile-carrying submarines, the Scottish National Party (SNP), Plaid Cymru * This article was accepted for publication by the previous editor.
    [Show full text]
  • Smart Muddling Through: Rethinking UK
    Smart muddling through: rethinking UK * national strategy beyond Afghanistan PAUL CORNISH AND ANDREW M. DORMAN† When the Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition was formed in May 2010 it was confronted with a Ministry of Defence (MoD) in crisis, with armed forces committed to intensive combat operations in Afghanistan and with an unenviable financial situation. Yet within five months the coalition government had published a new National Security Strategy (NSS—the third in three years), a new Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) and a spending review.1 Among the United Kingdom’s allies, France and Australia had prepared their defence white papers of 2008 and 2009 respectively in the context of a more benign global economic environment, while the United States used its national security policy of 2010 to provide a strategic overview without setting out in much detail what it would require of the relevant departments.2 The UK was effectively, therefore, the first western state to undertake a complete defence and security review in the ‘age of austerity’. To add to the challenge, the coalition recognized that there were also problems within its own machinery of government, and came up with some novel solutions. In a radical step, it decided that national security would henceforth be overseen by a new National Security Council (NSC) chaired by the Prime Minister. A National Security Advisor—a new appointment in UK govern- ment—would lead Cabinet Office support to the NSC and the review process. The novelty of these arrangements raised questions about whether a more estab- lished system might be required to manage such a major review of UK national security.
    [Show full text]
  • The Defence White Paper 17 SEPTEMBER 2004
    RESEARCH PAPER 04/71 The Defence White Paper 17 SEPTEMBER 2004 In December 2003 the Ministry of Defence published its Defence White Paper Delivering Security in a Changing World. Following the Strategic Defence Review (SDR) in 1998 and the SDR New Chapter in July 2002, the White Paper sets out the MOD’s analysis of the future security environment and the UK’s strategic priorities in light of this assessment. It is generally regarded as a statement of policy against which decisions on the size and shape of the Armed Forces will be made. This paper outlines the main elements of the Defence White Paper and examines some initial comments. It should be read in conjunction with Library Research Paper RP04/72 The Defence White Paper: Future Capabilities which outlines the specific changes to force structures as a result of the conclusions of the White Paper. Claire Taylor INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS AND DEFENCE SECTION HOUSE OF COMMONS LIBRARY Recent Library Research Papers include: 04/56 Council Tax Capping 16.07.04 04/57 Referendums on Regional Assemblies 19.07.04 04/58 Iraq: political and security issues at the handover 19.07.04 04/59 Iraq: legal issues at the handover 22.07.04 04/60 NATO: The Istanbul Summit 26.07.04 04/61 UK Election Statistics: 1918-2004 28.07.04 04/62 Companies (Audit Investigations and Community Enterprise) Bill [HL] 10.08.04 [Bill 142 of 2003-04] 04/63 Unemployment by Constituency, July 2004 11.08.04 04/64 The Civil Partnership Bill [HL]: background and debate [Bill 132 07.09.04 of 2003-04] 04/65 The Civil Partnership Bill
    [Show full text]
  • The Future of Britain's
    The Future of Britain’s WMD Dan Plesch March 2006 First published in 2006 by The Foreign Policy Centre 49 Chalton Street London NW1 1HY UNITED KINGDOM email: [email protected] © Dan Plesch 2006 [email protected] www.danplesch.net All rights reserved ISBN: 1 903558 84 0 To the memory of Robin Cook who worked with me to publish this report and with thanks to Jim Devine MP for helping me complete the research. “Dan Plesch documents in an impressive forthcoming report that all levels of the Trident system depend on US cooperation.” Rt Hon Robin Cook PC MP, the Guardian 29 July 2005 About the Author Dan Plesch is the author of the Beauty Queen’s Guide to World Peace, Research Associate of the Centre for International Studies at SOAS, University of London, a Senior Research Fellow at Keele University and Senior Associate of the Foreign Policy Centre. Previously he was Senior Research Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute and from 1987 to 2001 the founding director of the British American Security Information Council in Washington DC. In 2003 he was the Department of Constitutional Affairs Independent Advisor on the guidance for implementing the FOIA in the Ministry of Defence and Foreign Office. His studies on nuclear weapons policy have included expert evidence to the United States Senate and contributions to the Pugwash Conferences on World Affairs. Acknowledgements Chris Bellamy, Professor of Military Doctrine and Strategy at the Royal College of Military Science, Martin Butcher of Physicians for Social Responsibility in Washington and John Pike of globalsecurity.org kindly reviewed the draft prior to publication and I am most grateful for their assistance.
    [Show full text]
  • Defence Industrial Strategy Defence White Paper CM 6697
    Defence Industrial Strategy Defence Values for Acquisition This statement of values is intended to shape the behaviour of all those involved in acquisition, including Ministers, Defence Management Board members, customers at all levels, the scrutiny community, project teams in the various delivery organisations and our private sector partners. Everything we do is driven by the Defence Vision: The Defence Vision Defending the United Kingdom and its interests Strengthening international peace and stability A FORCE FOR GOOD IN THE WORLD We achieve this aim by working together on our core task to produce battle-winning people and equipment that are: ¥ Fit for the challenge of today ¥ Ready for the tasks of tomorrow ¥ Capable of building for the future By working together across all the Lines of Development, we will deliver the right equipment and services fi t for the purpose required by the customer, at the right time and the right cost. In delivering this Vision in Acquisition, we all must: ¥ recognise that people are the key to our success; equip them with the right skills, experience and professional qualifi cations; ¥ recognise the best can be the enemy of the very good; distinguish between must have, desirable, and nice to have if aff ordable; ¥ identify trade off s between performance, time and cost; cases for additional resources must off er realistic alternative solutions; ¥ never assume additional resources will be available; cost growth on one project can only mean less for others and for the front line; ¥ understand that time matters;
    [Show full text]